A Christian university here in town recently put an end to a 68-year ban on staff drinking alcohol (although alcohol is still banned from campus and university-sponsored events). The staff alcohol policy follows a ban on student dancing that was dropped a few years ago. The school’s rationale was that the alcohol ban was not biblically defensible.

I remember similar debates about behavioral restrictions during my college years. I attended a Christian college with relatively few behavioral restrictions; the philosophy was to trust students and faculty to live biblically without the burden of school-mandated rules. But there are plenty of Christian schools and employers that apparently find behavioral restrictions to be helpful in promoting righteous living.

In fact, almost every employer has rules and behavioral expectations for employees. But restrictions like this alcohol ban feel different because they’re moral restrictions; and there’s an extra level of discomfort when such moral restrictions are not clearly endorsed by Scripture. They’re inspired by biblical ideals, perhaps, but they’re not actually taught in the Bible.

What do you think? Would you take a job with an employer that imposed unbiblical restrictions on your personal behavior? Is a restriction like this an instance of humans adding pointless laws to the gospel of grace? Or can you make a case that Christians should defer to well-intentioned restrictions like this out of concern for “weaker” brothers and sisters in Christ who might be led astray by seeing another Christian drinking (or smoking, or watching certain movies, etc.)?

What do you think?

It’s been a difficult autumn at my church—in the last few weeks, three members of our church family have passed away. And last week I attended the funeral of a former coworker. At the risk of sounding morbid, death and funerals have been on my mind a lot lately.

Although it might seem strange, I’ve found that Christian funerals are among the most powerful and uniquely Christian experiences I’ve ever encountered. Every funeral is different, and the experience of attending a funeral varies greatly depending on the circumstances of the death and other contexts. But if you’ve ever attended a funeral where the Gospel message was clearly proclaimed, perhaps you know what I’m talking about: there is nothing so powerful as hearing about the hope of Jesus Christ when you’re face-to-face with the tangible evidence of pain, sorrow, and death.

Hearing the Gospel message in those circumstances is not always a happy experience for me. Sometimes it provokes bittersweet joy, as in the case of somebody whose death came as a relief from long suffering. Sometimes it makes me angry—angry at this broken, sin-filled world, and angry at God for allowing death to claim somebody “before their time.” Most times we feel a rush of different emotions as our sorrow intertwines with the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

The exact reaction varies greatly. But you simply cannot avoid reacting to that Gospel message when you hear it proclaimed at a funeral. You can zone out during a Sunday morning sermon, or daydream during an altar call at church. But at a funeral, the proclamation of the Gospel stands out as a bold, almost ludicrous challenge that cannot be ignored. Joy, sorrow, pain, anger—the Gospel of Jesus demands a response. In those moments, I feel the true force of Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

You can hear the Gospel preached and discussed in a lot of places. In church. At retreats or Christian events. In Bible studies and small group fellowships. But if you want to witness the Gospel with all of its power to proclaim hope amidst the horror of sin and death, perhaps that message is most clear when it is spoken amidst the pain and sorrow of a funeral.

New Moon, the second film in the ultra-popular Twilight series, hit movie theaters this weekend like a juggernaut.

It’s been interesting to read Christian responses to the Twilight books and movies; as they were with the Harry Potter tales, many Christian critics seem uneasy with this new and tangled vampire love story… but where it was shades of the occult that made some Christians nervous about Harry Potter, concerns about Twilight are focused on the melodramatic (but chaste) relationship between protagonists Bella and Edward.

Stephen Greydanus’ review of New Moon at Christianity Today explains why Twilight’s primary love story feels emotionally and spiritually unhealthy. He’s not the only one to take that approach; and it’s not just Christians pointing this out, either: see this article explaining why the relationship between Bella and Edward is troubling.

Do you agree with these critiques—that the love story presents an unhealthy model for a relationship? Do you worry that Twilight’s young fans will take away a misguided lesson about love? Or do you think these critics are over-thinking things, and that we should instead be grateful that Bella and Edward’s relationship isn’t reduced to gratuitous sex (a rarity for a cinematic romance these days)?

What do you think?